Stagnant Water of Apocalypse

Obviously, the attack power of the ebony stick was weak. However, thanks to the rain of attack that I unleashed towards it, the WiFi zombie’s movement finally stopped.

“Die!”

With one last swing, the WiFi Zombie crumbled to its leg before its body hit the asphalt with a dull thud sound.

「You have earned 10 Points 」

However, because of my level, the WiFi zombie didn’t give me any level. On top of that, I also didn’t learn any new skills. But still, the most troublesome problem was gone, together with its death.

I shouted at Mikyung, who is still on the top of the building.

“Mikyung! Now!”

“Okay!”

However, instead of using her ability to go to the building across, Mikyung went to my side instead.

“Be careful of the manhole and follow me.” I said to her before running towards the direction adjacent from the building we were trapped in earlier. Just because the boss monster had been killed, it doesn’t mean the tutorial would end right away. We still had to run away and survive until the zombie wall collapsed. The tutorial will truly end when there is not even a single zombie chasing us.

I kicked a zombie that’s looking away from me and swung the ebony stick towards it. As soon as it hits the head of the zombie, a refreshing cracking sound can be heard.

“This way.” Quickly brushing the kill notification that popped up in front of me, I led Mikyung into an alleyway. Behind us, less and less zombies could be seen. The other zombies that had only joined in the chase halfway through had a quite dull reaction, so it’s quite an easy task to shake them off our tail.

After several more minutes of running away like a criminal, the zombies around us started to disappear. Without giving it any second thought, I went up to the second floor of a shopping mall together with Mikyung. Once we arrived, I quickly moved towards the window. On the street, no zombie could be seen. On top of it, the zombie wall couldn’t be seen anywhere. Which means, the tutorial has finally ended.

The moment I took my eyes off the window, a message showed up.

「You have earned 17 Points 」

My brows furrowed for a moment before I nodded my head. It seems that I had found one of the alternative methods of earning points mentioned on the patch notes. Namely, successfully running away from a zombie horde.

Since there’s no need to fight, this method was perfect for awakeners with a unique ability that is not related to combat to acquire points. But if you keep trying to acquire points that way, at one point, you will die. Hunting to acquire points means that you will get some combat experience as well, which in turn would improve your sense and instinct when fighting. If you only level up by running away from the zombies, you wouldn’t be able to cope with the reinforced zombies.

While Mikyung was taking a break, I went around the floor to see if there were any items spawned for us. In Survival Life, there were two ways of how items would appear. The first way is one of the items that is around the user when they kill a monster would be turned into an item, just like what happened to my watch when I killed the orc. The other was a method in which items were regenerated randomly near the user as an event. Users usually preferred the former because it’s cumbersome to move around looking for where it would spawn, though.

When I reached the bathroom, I could see two items sitting on top of the sink. They were bracelets made of soft material.

「Robutan Bracelet: Perception +2」

It seems that the reason two items appeared rather than one was due to the fact that me and Mikyung finished the tutorial together. It was something I, a stagnant water, saw for the first time. Afterall, back in the original tutorial, I didn’t have any contact with other users until I finished it.

“It’s a fine item.”

When I showed it to Mikyung, her eyes opened wide. “It’s an item with +2 Perception, huh?”

“Yes, let’s take one each.”

“I don’t know if I can have this… I was just running around on the roof.”

“I was able to deal with the WiFi zombie because Mikyung drew the attention of other zombies. Please take it.”

Though, the truth was, even without Mikyung, I would be able to handle it without any problem. But I couldn’t just take both of the items for myself. Also, it’s not like I lost much from giving it to Mikyung. Afterall, It was never harmful to be friendly with someone with a useful ability.

She looked me in the eye and took the bracelet. I also shut my mouth and put the bracelet on my wrist.

Then, she asked me “Ahjussi, are you hurt anywhere?”

“No, I’m fine. I just feel a little tired.”

It was only natural because I had been running around like crazy to loot various places since daytime. I really wanted to just quickly send Mikyung away then go home and rest.

“I’m a bit apprehensive about saying this, but I would have died without you, Ahjussi.” she said sadly.

“Why did someone with an ability that lets you teleport talk about dying that easily? You just have to jump off the second floor and run.”

“Uh… I was aware of the attack, but when the zombies came, my feet didn’t want to move… My heart was beating fast, so…”

Well… That’s only natural. The pressure emitted by countless zombies swarming towards you was indeed no joke. On top of that, as it is currently night-time, she wouldn’t be able to see anything, adding more pressure to the already heavy pressure. No matter how many times they read the walkthrough I gave them, there’s a big difference between imagining it and actually doing it.

I asked her. “What about the others?”

“We hid in the gym until evening. Fortunately, no one in our group got turned into a zombie. Manager asked us to do the tutorial together, but Kyunghoon ahjussi was stubborn…”

“Sigh…” That person will surely pay the price for his arrogance someday. He’s the kind of person who was stubborn without even knowing it. In a normal world, doing so wouldn’t do much damage to others, but in an apocalyptic world, it would endanger the people around him.

By the way, two people in the gym group were non-awakened, but neither of them turned into zombies. It seems like they didn’t turn into a zombie because they were close to an awakened, just like Kyunghoon said. With that in mind, anyone who’s close to an awakened must also be alive… Well, there’s no point in thinking about that now. The most important thing at this moment was to survive.

“Let’s go to the gym together.” I urged Mikyung.

“I can go alone. You don’t have to worry too much.”

Well, of course she could. She has her blink ability. But I want to go there in order to get more information, not just because I was worried about her. And I would only stay there for a short moment, since that Kyunghoon guy looked uncomfortable whenever I came there.

“Do you not like it?”

“No, no. Let’s go together.”

Me and Mikyung rummaged around the floor for one last time, but there’s nothing good other than the bracelets. There’s just some ramyun and sweets near expiration date. Once we put it in the bag, we quickly left the shopping mall.

It was quite noisy on the way as there were tutorials going on here and there.

The night was getting deeper and deeper.

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We headed to the gym while avoiding all the zombies. However, while coming out of an alley close to the gym, I saw zombies surrounding a brightly lit house.

Just what kind of candle did they use? Why is it so bright?

I beckoned to Mikyung and led her to cross the road quickly and silently. Once we crossed, we finally arrived in front of the building where the gym was located. The building was still standing, but some part of its wall had collapsed.

We quickly entered the building. In the meantime, Mikyung suddenly said,

“Ahjussi, the building is a bit strange, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, some parts of the wall had collapsed. And there’s a lot of crack in the wall.”

“It wasn’t like this when I left…”

“I think it was because there’s a lot of load in this building. It would be dangerous.”

In the videos I made about Survival Life, buildings which have 5 floors would be fine, but in reality, it would be different as there’s a chance that they’re constructed poorly. It won’t collapse right away, but it would be safer if people here moved to another location. Though, it wouldn’t be an easy task as they had already stockpiled quite a lot of supplies here in this building.

While I was waiting on the first floor, Mikyung went up before returning seconds later.

“They said Bora unnie and Kyunghoon ahjussi haven’t returned yet.”

“Then, let’s go.”

We went up to the 4th floor. It was very dark inside, with blackout curtains placed against the windows. In the middle of the room, one candle was present, providing the minimum amount of lighting.

Currently, there’s only 4 people here, Hyung-jun Hyung, Yoohyeon, Mikyung and me. So, zombies shouldn’t be able to detect us here.

“Seongho you came. I’m glad.”

“I lived thanks to you, Hyung.” Yoohyeon came by my side and said in a friendly manner.

“What happened?”

“Hyung wrote it on the note, remember? If you see walls of zombies in your path, change your direction. And if you were about to be completely surrounded, go up to a building. I followed your advice, and I was able to survive.”

“You didn’t meet a boss monster?”

“I didn’t meet one. How about you, Manager?”

“I didn’t see one, either.”

For some reason, the only people who met the boss monster were only me and Mikyung. It seems like the developer team also fixed the condition of meeting the boss monsters in the tutorial. Probably, based on level.

Hyung-jun Hyung beckoned to me. “Hey, Seongho, just sit down… Let’s sit down and talk. That guy hasn’t returned yet so it will be fine.”

We sat with the candle in the middle. Before everyone else begin to talk, Mikyung opened he mouth,

“I was hiding in a building while running away, then Seongho ahjussi came and helped me.”

“It must have been terrifying. But, how did you manage to escape?”

When Hyung-jun Hyung asked, Mikyung shook her head and said. “I caught the attention of the zombies on the roof using a firework while Seongho ahjussi went downstairs and killed the boss zombie… it’s a zombie that can restrict unique abilities.”

Everyone’s eyes widened at her words. Hyung-jun Hyung whipped his head towards me and asked. “Is there such a thing?”

I sighed in my mind. I came here in order to get more information. And yet, I’m the one who needs to give it. Just how did it happen? But this isn’t a bad thing either.

I explained the situation in the most downplayed way. That the WiFi zombie isn’t a big deal, and I was only able to do it because Mikyung took the other zombies’ attention.

But, as soon as I finished, I could still see that Yoohyeon was deeply impressed. “You are really great, Hyung! I was busy running away.”

“I, too, was just running… But Seongho, you really smashed that zombie?”

“Well, I just killed that one guy.”

“Still, the pressure… I couldn’t handle it. By the way, did you awaken too?”

Too? Don’t tell me…

“I awakened as soon as the tutorial started. There was a lot of talk about how the system was now applied to some new users.”

Ah… Could it be that people who haven’t played the game have been forcefully awakened once they come across the tutorial?

If so…

“… I also awakened. I wasn’t able to tell Mikyung earlier because I was in a hurry.”

Would she believe my words even though she knows I have enough time to talk while rummaging through the floor for items? Fortunately, Mikyung kept her mouth shut. It seems like she didn’t even suspect me.

“I awakened some kind of a physical enhancement ability. When I went into battle, my Vitality, Strength, and Agility stat increased dramatically. So, I will become stronger in a fight.” Hyung-jun Hyung explained.

“It seems like a very good ability.” I nodded.

Then, Yoohyeon revealed that his ability was to make puppets. He then proceeds to demonstrate it. He made a frog out of paper, swung his hand and it started jumping!

“The puppets I make can move freely. And if I close my eyes, I can hear and see through it.”

“It’s such an amazing ability.” I exclaimed. It would be great to make a paper airplane puppet and use it to spy on enemy camps.

Come to think of it, wasn’t Yoohyeon a university student majoring in engineering? It was a major that had something to do with making something… That’s probably why his ability was to make puppets. Mikyung was pretty quick on her feet, so she got a blink ability while Hyung-jun Hyung was muscular, so he got a body strengthening ability.

By the way, I guess I have to say something like this…

“What is your unique ability?” All eyes were on me as Hyung-jun Hyung asked me that.

I already finished the tutorial, so I couldn’t say I didn’t have any. And although I’m not a member of this group, we were maintaining a close relationship. However, if I told them my real unique ability, it would certainly become difficult. Unless I had decided to actively help them in the future, it’s better to hide it.

What was the best unique ability that would make it easier to move around without being suspected, I wonder?

Yeah, that would be great.

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“My unique ability is… some kind of foresight.”

“Foresight?”

“Are you saying that you can see the future? It’s a great ability.”

“No, it’s not that great. I could only see the trajectory of a monster’s attack.”

Hyung-jun Hyung folded his arms and tilted his head. “It’s a bit unfortunate. Me and Yoohyeon thought that you will acquire an ability related to cooking.”

“Because I used to open a snack bar?”

“Yeah. I thought that you’ll get an ability that can give us a buff once we eat your cooking.”

Well, to be fair, that would be quite a useless ability, since you can also get buffs from eating special fruits like the shadow grapes or solar apples.

“Anyway, I didn’t even know what it was at first. I only became aware of it once I killed the reinforced zombie. I could see the trajectory of the zombies attacking me. So, It’s easy to avoid the zombies.”

“Are you saying that you killed a reinforced zombie without any ability? That’s awesome.”

“It was only because that zombie wasn’t that strong. On the contrary, I think Hyung could kill it easier than me. I mean, with your body strengthening ability, you’ll be fine even if you fight several zombies at once.”

“That’s not the case… Even though I knew the strategy to fight them in advance, the pressure was no joke.”

Everyone nodded without saying a word at Hyung-jun Hyung’s words.

“By the way, what should we do now?” Yoohyeon asked while covering the candle with his hand as it started to flicker because of the wind.

No one said anything to his question, so I answered. “We have to survive.”

“After surviving?”

“We just have to keep surviving to the end. Survive against zombies, ghouls, kobolds, goblins, orcs, werewolves, etc.”

“There is no answer…. Really.”

Everyone looked tired at my words. But that’s not the end.

“We will have to fight humans too. After stabilization, the predators will appear. There’s a villa at the foot of the mountain, isn’t there? Be careful with the people living there.”

“They are bad people. They coerced me to join their group, and they said they won’t allow me to join another group…” Mikyung chided solemnly.

“The villa is not far from here… If they come, you have to fight.” I said. Hyung-jun Hyung’s face grew darker and darker with every word we said.

Amongst the villa group, two were already dead, but I still couldn’t say I felt relieved now. That’s why I would deal with the rest of them once I finished looting the firecrackers from the festival venue. Sparing them would be foolish as they would definitely come back for revenge in the future.

Anyway, my eyes were getting heavier and heavier… I would have to get the information I wanted soon.

“Is there anyone who managed to get points in an unusual way? As in, you managed to get points other than by hunting those things? I know that if you run away from a zombie horde, you will get some.”

“That… Manager, didn’t you say that you got some points earlier?”

“Huh? Earlier?”

“When you helped me as I was about to be caught by a zombie.”

“Ah, that. A zombie was trying to catch Yoohyeon, so I pushed and stepped on it… After that, a notification shows up, saying that I got some points.”

If you help others, you will earn points… It’s something that is not exactly useful for someone like me.

“If you hunt, run, and help, you get points.” Hyung-jun Hyung summarized as he nodded his head. “I was worried for Yoohyeon because he didn’t have a combat-oriented ability. But now I’m relieved… with his ability, he would be able to escape easily.”

“But, Manager, it’s a bit dangerous to keep doing that. Because if we get points, our level will eventually go up, right? Levelling up without fighting is really dangerous. The higher our level is, the stronger monsters that spawn around us will be as well. If we only level up by escaping, we would have trouble when we’re forced to fight against those strong monsters without any combat experience.

At Yoohyeon’s words, Hyung seemed to have been beaten in the back of the head. “…that’s right. Oh, this is a pain in the butt. On top of that, we also have to match our level as well, right? So that monsters that will spawn around us would have the same average level.”

“If we want to live together, we have to do that.”

“Me and Yoohyeon are level 1, how about you, Mikyung?”

“I am level 2…” Mikyung said.

“What’s yours, Seongho?”

“It’s level two.” I lied through my teeth. I couldn’t just tell them I was already level 11.

“I think Mikyung had become level 2 because she ran away from the reinforced zombie Seongho fought against. If Mikyung is level 2, then how should I do this…”

“But Hyung, there is no need to match the level in detail. From what I heard, it is still okay if the difference was around 3 levels.”

“That’s good. By the way, what can we do with the points we collected?”

“You can buy items at the Store, and you can also use them at the Auction House that will be unlocked in the future. As far as I know, the Store will be open at level 10 and the Auction House will open at level 15.”

The Auction House also includes a limited community role. If someone posts a product, others could comment on it. Since Survival Life was nothing but a game in the end, it was a pretty useless function as the users could easily communicate using message functions. But, as all kinds of communication on Earth were no longer available, that function would be a great boon for the survivors.

When I reach level 15, no one should be there before me, right? Or maybe, those crazy ahjussis would’ve already gotten there first… (Note: crazy ahjussis referring to the other stagnant waters)

Hyung-jun Hyung’s expression turned strange at my words. “If you buy something in the Store, the points will be reduced and the items will be spawned nearby, right?”

“Yes, that’s the case in the video I watched. The ebony stick came out in similar fashion too, right?”

“It was… haha, right. How will we get to that level? I’m just level 1 now.”

“Well, as long as we survive, someday we will reach it. Don’t worry too much about it, Hyung.”

Everyone here or maybe everyone who still survived at this point was at a loss as to how they were going to live from now on. At the same time, they also felt a sense of loss or longing for their family and friends who got turned into zombies.

By the way, I would have to go before the monsters start to spawn around here. I got up and said, “Since the tutorial is over, don’t go out at night unless it’s an absolute urgency, as bone creepers and keepers spawns at night.”

“Keepers? Ah, that one in the note you gave us. Is it really such a dangerous monster?”

“It’s dangerous. Even though zombies took a break around that time, the reinforced zombies protecting them are called keepers, and they were strengthened several times.”

So far, there was no problem in explaining it. Everyone knows that I’ve seen it on I Love Gimbap’s video. However, I should stop supplying them with monster’s information soon or they would find me suspicious.

“Well, there are so many scary monsters…” Hyung-jun Hyung and the others sighed in choir.

“Well, this is an apocalypse, what are you expecting? But Hyung, this building looks a bit dangerous… will it be okay?”

“Ah yeah,about that, we will discuss it when he and Bora come back.”

It seems that Hyungjun Hyung didn’t really feel attached to Kyunghoon as he didn’t even call his name but called him by ‘him’.

“By the way, I will go first.”

“Are you okay? You can take a break here for a little longer if you want.”

“I must go before it is too late. If I’m still here when those two come, everyone is gonna be in danger.”

“Hey, Thanks for helping Mikyung. Take it.” Hyung-jun Hyung handed me some food. He was just this kind of person. Someone who always took care of others despite lacking a lot. Guess I would have to repay him. Maybe if I create a farming plot nearby, then tell him that I accidentally managed to find it, and that he can use it. Yeah, that should be enough.

Yoohyeon also took something out of his backpack and handed it to me.

“Hyung, this is a gift. In return for giving us a lot of useful information…”

“What is this?” The thing in my hand was a small cylindrical thing made of plastic.

Wordlessly, Yoohyeon went to the window and gave me a demonstration.

Oh, it’s a telescope!

“We can’t use this on a big hole, since that would be dangerous, right? So, I made it smaller.”

“Oh, that’s a good idea.” With this telescope, I would be able to see from wherever I was hiding. He really lived up to his name as an engineering student.

I gave my farewell to the gym group members for one last time and went down the building. When I looked outside the first floor, there were a few zombies roaming the street. Once I walked away from this building, they would definitely see me and try to catch me.

Let’s hunt them and get some points…

“Whew…” In the future too, I must live like this. This is what a post-apocalyptic life offered to humanity. A constant survival.

I returned home and quickly went to the cave. Dingo swung his tail like a propeller and ran towards me as soon as he saw me.

“Let’s just go to sleep today…”

I hugged Dingo and quickly passed out.

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